The House of Burgess - I am continually amazed by the efforts of educators I am connected to. I see their tireless efforts to improve education and support other teachers to change education. This includes educators like Michael Matera who has been a force to be reckoned with in Gamifying the classroom. Alice Keeler who is my go to for Google Apps continues to find new ways of innovation with Google including creating scripts and extensions. Matt Miller says Ditch the Textbook and infuse technology in meaningful ways. Paul Solarz who I met in my first #tlap chat has always been a force for student centered education. And there are many more that I could include in this list. I chose this group because they all have something in common. They are all connected to Dave Burgess. Dave began as a high school social studies teacher, pioneer in engagement and wrote his Teach Like A Pirate book. He has not only inspired countless educators he has supported many others with his publishing company which includes those mentioned above. Each of the amazing educators above have written and published books via Dave's publishing company. Tonight we are going to celebrate other aspects of the House of Burgess- Ideas have have their origin in Dave's passion for education. QuestionsQ1 What is the most influential idea/concept/practice that you have learned from @Burgessdave's #tlap book? How have you applied this to your class? #sstlap
Q2 How have the ideas of #tlap impacted your educational practices? #sstlap Q3 How have the concepts of #tlap impacted your relationship with students and colleagues? #sstlap Q4 The House of Burgessess laid the foundation for Democracy in America like Dave has done for transforming education. What have you done so far in your career that has laid a foundation for improving education? #sstlap Q5 What is your vision for education that will be impactful? #sstlap Q6 What are you passionate about, and how can you use this to make your vision a reality? #sstlap Q7 In 5 years what will the house of (fill in your name) look like? What will you have done to make education better? #sstlap About a week ago I came across an article online that intrigued me. Obama compares self to Aaron Rodgers-- I found this interesting because I am a Packers Fan, and I know Obama is a Bears fan. As I read through the article I found it more and more interesting. It wasn't so much that the President made the initial comparison, but rather the ongoing conversation by others who took the initial idea and ran with it. The initial commentators referenced Obama's own comparison, but then I saw the conversation weave and intertwine around more QBs and leaders. It was interesting looking at the comments seeing the details and descriptions of both the leaders and the QBs. The fact that they were making comparisons about two different positions kept my attention. As a teacher I began thinking about how I would assess their efforts? If I had assigned this to students, what would I think about this? The initial comparison was about Obama and Rodgers but the conversation diverted from this topic quickly. Does this mean they didn't complete the assigned task? Would I look at the multiple other pieces of information that were infused into this conversation as outweighing the lack of connection to Obama and Rodgers? I know early on in my career I might have been frustrated that students didn't stick to the original topic. However I know realize the skill is more important than the topic used to develop or demonstrate the skill. The conversation shows an amazingly complex comparison with rich conversation between different people all adding new ideas to the topic. I found the insights about various individuals mentioned in the conversation very interesting and made the experience more engaging for me. I hope you will consider what is the intended outcome of the learning activity when assessing students- is it the skill or the facts that reign supreme? That doesn't mean you can't view both as important. Just keep in mind when students leave your class which would you rather have them be secure in, the skills to be thinkers, or lots of information? As we chat tonight, think about how you use or could use comparisons, especially those that aren't necessarily similar to create learning activities for your students. A final note, as I was working on a project this week, I began researching Epic Rap Battles in History and came across some really cool examples, however each and every one I found contained some inappropriate language. I think the concept of having students create comparisons between historical figures in a more interesting way than doing a venn diagram or writing a paper. QuestionsWe are going with fewer questions tonight to hopefully inspire more conversation based on participants responses. Q1 Donald Trump is like which professional sports team? Why? #sstlap Q2 Hilary Clinton is most like which professional sports team? Why? #sstlap Q3 Bernie Sanders is most like which professional athlete? Why? #sstlap Q4 Ben Carson is most like which musical artist/band? Why? #sstlap Flip it- Q5 Your favorite sports team is most like which historical figure? How/Why? #sstlap Apply it- Q6 How can you use this strategy in your own classroom? #sstlap |
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